An 18-year-old Mendocino Coast man was arrested after a series of strange events at the Mendocino K-8 School Thursday morning.

Simon Raye was sought by the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office, which has accused the man of burglarizing the school, stealing a vehicle, arson and falsely reporting an emergency.

The MCSO said it found Raye in Fort Bragg around 4:30 p.m. Thursday and he was arrested without incident.

Deputies were called to the school in the 44000 block of Little Lake Road in Mendocino around 6:30 a.m. Thursday by an employee who noticed the building had been burglarized.

Investigators were able to determine that Raye was driving a silver car, which was allegedly found to be stolen. Raye is suspected of getting the vehicle stuck in the sand on Big River Beach before abandoning it, according to the sheriff’s report.

Later that morning, a motorist was allegedly flagged down by Raye as he was walking along Little Lake Road. Raye allegedly told the motorist, who was unaware of his involvement at the time, that there was a brush fire near the K-8 School, and that he witnessed two men with rifles, wearing masks near the fire. Raye then continued walking while the motorist called 911.

The fire was put out by emergency responders with Cal Fire and the Mendocino Volunteer Fire Department while the area was “exhaustively” searched for armed men by multiple law enforcement agencies, according to the Sheriff’s Office.

The report of men wearing masks with rifles appeared to be a hoax started by Raye, according to the sheriff’s report. The Sheriff’s Office believes Raye made up the story to distract law enforcement so he could get out of the area undetected.

Raye was to be booked at the Mendocino County Jail, with bail set at $25,000.